Paludan: "Their idea that I should burn the Koran"
Cornelius Hamelberg
Paludan: "Their idea that I should burn the Koran"
A presenter for SD's media channel Riks paid for permission to burn the Koran outside the Turkish embassy.
Koran-burner Rasmus Paludan now claims that the campaign was not his idea.
- It is definitely remarkable and questions need to be asked of SD, says Kjell Engelbrekt, professor at the Norwegian Defense Academy.
The Koran burning outside the Turkish embassy this weekend has met with strong protests around the world. In both Turkey and Iraq, large demonstrations have been held against Sweden - and Turkey has announced that Sweden cannot count on support for NATO membership.
Now questions are being raised about who or who actually had an interest in the burning taking place.
Chang Frick, who owns the right-wing populist site Nyheter Idag, is also a presenter on the Sweden Democrats' communication channel Riks. He was the one who paid Rasmus Paludan's fee to hold the demonstration, something that the newspaper Syre was the first to reveal .
The anti-Muslim provocateur Rasmus Paludan tells DN that it was not his idea to travel to Sweden and burn the Koran last Saturday. He states that he had contact with Chang Frick and a reporter from the far-right site Exakt24 and that the proposal came from "one of them".
- It was their idea to burn the Koran outside the Turkish embassy, he says.
Paludan claims not to know what their reasons were, but can only account for his own.
- I think it was a good reaction to Erdogan's attempt to influence freedom of expression in Sweden.
When did they come up with the proposal to burn the Koran outside the embassy?
- I think it was a week before, after this with the Erdogan doll , says Rasmus Paludan.
He agreed that they would cover his travel expenses.
- It didn't happen that way, I paid for the transport myself.
However, he received help with the fee that must be paid in order for the application for a public meeting to be examined by the Police Authority. According to Paludan, it was because it would take too long to transfer money from his Danish bank account.
- I wrote that you, Chang, must pay, says Rasmus Paludan.
So it happened and on January 17 Paludan sent in an application which the police granted a few days later.
Chang Frick is paid by the Sweden Democrats' media channel for his host job. He does not want to give an oral interview, but confirms to DN that he paid the fee. When asked whose idea it was to burn the Koran, he writes that it is a "bizarre question" and that he would not encourage anyone to burn the Koran.
However, he wanted to encourage marking against Turkey from the right.
"Therefore, I informed various activists on the right that if there is an interest in making a mark against Turkey, I will be helpful. It resulted in Paludan nabbing.”
The reporter from the far-right Exakt24 writes to DN and confirms that he was involved.
"I asked Paludan if he wanted to demonstrate against Turkey and he said yes".
However, he denies having taken the initiative. "It wasn't my idea but there was so much talk back and forth about it in different channels. I think it was someone's friend".
Kjell Engelbrekt, professor of political science at the Norwegian Defense Academy, was interviewed this week by the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera about the Koran burning. He believes that it has been exploited by the Turkish regime and had large and rapid consequences.
- The entire chain resembles an information operation, on the higher scale, he tells DN.
The newspaper Expo has previously noticed that the SD politician Kent Ekeroth, together with his colleague at the right-wing populist Samnytt, celebrated the election success in September with the words: "The Koran riots did their job".
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Expert: This is how Sweden should act after the threat of a boycott
There are divided opinions about the effect of the call for a global boycott of Sweden.
Pinar Dinc, researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Lund, assesses that the risk of Swedish companies and interests being affected is small.
Terror researcher Magnus Ranstorp, for his part, believes that the situation could become problematic for Sweden if it escalates.
The call for a global boycott against Sweden came from al-Azhar University on Wednesday after the Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Pauludan burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday. The Netherlands is also at risk of a boycott after the far-right Pegida leader Edwin Wagensveld on Sunday tore up the Muslim holy book and stomped on the pages in The Hague.
al-Azhar, which is by far the single most powerful Sunni Muslim institution, calls the Koran revelations a crime against Muslims and that a reasonable response is to boycott both Sweden and the Netherlands.
The events have led to anger in several Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq, Indonesia and Iraq. Even before the announcement of a boycott, there was therefore concern about whether Swedish interests risked being affected.
Pinar Dinc, researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University, says that the best thing Sweden can do now is to wait.
- You have to keep in mind which two countries are discussing with each other and how different their views on democracy are. In Turkey, it is extremely difficult to obtain permits for any form of assembly and demonstration, even peaceful ones. That's not how it works in Sweden, the Swedish government must be clear about that. There is really nothing else that Sweden can do in this situation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said after the Koran burning in Stockholm that he does not intend to support Sweden and Finland's application to the NATO defense alliance. Already last week, anger was aroused in Ankara when a doll representing the Turkish president was hung in Sergel's square in central Stockholm.
- Erdogan is a political leader who is known for making plays and making demands. He has a particular leadership style and he has been in power for a long time. There is of course a risk that he will refrain from ratifying the Swedish NATO application, but the important thing now is how Sweden acts, says Pinar Dinc.
In the agreement that Sweden and Finland made with Turkey before the NATO application in May, it was stated, among other things, that Sweden should not support the Gülen movement or the Kurdish party PYD's armed wing YPG. According to Turkey, the PYD and YPG are the same as the PKK, an organization that is labeled a terrorist by both the EU and the US.
Turkey and Hungary are now the only NATO countries that have not ratified Sweden and Finland's application to NATO.
What significance does the Turkish election in May have for Erdogan's handling of the Swedish NATO application?
- The issue of Sweden's NATO membership is far from Erdogan's main issue in the domestic election. He has an election to win and as it stands now he risks losing power. But Sweden's NATO application functions as a tool in the matter of the Kurds in Turkey's domestic and foreign policy in Syria. Erdogan has criminalized the Kurds in an escalating fashion in recent years. What is happening now is a reflection of that approach at the international level, says Pinar Dinc.
The security police write in an email to DN that they follow developments "as events in our surrounding world can also affect the security situation in Sweden both in the short and long term."
However, it is too early to say what possible impact the current events in the world may have or what possible measures the Security Police will take, they write.
The terrorist threat level remains at "elevated threat", a third on a five-point scale. It has been there since 2010, with a short exception at the turn of the year 2015-2016, according to the Security Police.
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Turkey's foreign minister: New NATO talks pointless
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu does not see the benefit of holding new talks about Sweden's and Finland's accession to NATO. At a press conference, he brings up Rasmus Paludan's Koran burning as the reason.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says on Thursday that Sweden set the hook for its own NATO application when Rasmus Paludan's Koran burning was not stopped.
- This heinous act is a hate crime. It is a racist act. Nobody should teach us about freedom of speech, it is completely irrelevant, says Cavusoglu according to the media channel CNN Turk .
The statements came in connection with a press conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
- Sweden must decide now. Do they want to join NATO or not? It is up to Sweden to deal with the problems that still exist, says Cavusoglu.
In recent times, several meetings between Swedish and Turkish representatives have been cancelled. After a doll representing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hung upside down outside Stockholm City Hall , Speaker Andreas Norlén's trip to Turkey was cancelled .
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson was supposed to visit Turkey tomorrow, Friday, but that trip was canceled due to the weekend's demonstrations.
Mevlut Cavusoglu does not believe that any new meetings will be scheduled in the near future.
- Right now, a meeting is pointless.
Earlier this week, Finland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, opened the door for Finland to go ahead with its application for Swedish ineligibility. Haavisto förtydgade izramentot senera samma dag och var då tyglid med att Finland och Sverige präivät Natoprocessen sammannäs .
At Thursday's press conference, the Turkish foreign minister announced that no application had been received to take up the countries' applications separately in the Turkish parliament.
Turkey is one of two NATO countries that did not approve Sweden's and Finland's applications. The other country is Hungary.
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Sunni leaders call for a boycott of Sweden
Finland authorizes the export of defense equipment to Turkey
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That is why the NATO application takes so long
Is it over for Swedish NATO membership now? No. But it suits Turkish President Erdogan well that his message is interpreted that way, now that the Turkish presidential election campaign is getting underway in earnest.
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Sunni leaders call for a boycott of Sweden
Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the highest institution of learning for Sunni Muslims, is calling for a global boycott against Sweden and the Netherlands after this weekend's desecration of the Koran, AP reports.
Anti-Muslim activist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran at the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday, and on Sunday far-right Pegida leader Edwin Wagensveld tore up the Muslim holy book and stomped on its pages in The Hague.
Both of these protests were authorized, but they have sparked anger in large parts of the world, sparking demonstrations in, for example, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Indonesia has summoned the Swedish ambassador Marina Berg to hand over an official protest.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also announced that the country does not intend to support Sweden and Finland's application to the defense alliance after this weekend's Koran burning and demonstration against Turkey. The Swedish embassy in Ankara had closed on Tuesday for security reasons.
al-Azhar, which is by far the most powerful Sunni Muslim institution, calls the revelations of the Koran a crime against Muslims and that a reasonable reply is to boycott both Sweden and the Netherlands because the countries' governments protect "barbaric crime with the inhuman and immoral banner they call freedom of speech ".
The fatwan from al-Azhar has been widely praised on Arab social media under hashtags such as "new crusaders" and "Sweden burns the Koran". The Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman Ahmed bin Hamad al-Khalili, who also had harsh statements against Sweden on the issue of social services and "kidnapping" of children, has a longer post that "the burning of the Koran in Sweden is a clear proof of where their hatred and grudge against God religion can reach”.
The Government and Parliament of Qatar call on the international community to play its full role in taking the necessary measures and legislating to ensure respect for religions. They want to criminalize those who violate religions and stop the unjustified wave of fanaticism, hatred and extremism against Islam and Muslims in certain countries.
Similar condemnations and requests also come from countries such as Bahrain and Mauritania.
The very famous Algerian presenter Khadija Benguenna from the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera writes to her 2.1 million Twitter followers that "Turkey is preventing Sweden from joining NATO. In revenge, Sweden burns the Koran. Question: Is the Holy Quran Turkish?”
Sweden's official Twitter page in Arabic, SwedenAR run by the Swedish Institute, published a few days ago a post in Arabic, a translation of the Swedish Prime Minister's response to the burning of the Koran. The post has 2.5 million views on Wednesday afternoon and basically all of the nearly 5,500 comments are against Sweden.
Posts about the boycott of Sweden were posted on Al Jazeera's Twitter channels, along with a picture of a large number of Swedish brands. One of them has the title: "A boycott campaign goes viral in Arab contexts in response to the Koran burning in Stockholm". Citizens are calling on their governments on social media to, among other things, close Ikea stores - and list where the stores are located.
What real consequences a boycott could have for Swedish companies is too early to say, and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise announces that they do not comment on the development of events. DN has sought Ikea and also H&M, which appeared as well-known targets for a boycott, also partially state-owned Business Sweden, which supports and promotes Swedish exports.
Similar calls for a boycott hit Denmark in 2006 after Jyllands-Posten's twelve published Muhammad cartoons from September 2005 eventually reached the Muslim world. One of the worst affected companies was Arla, which ten years later summed up the losses to an estimated 2.5 billion Danish kroner.
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Both Paludan and Erdogan supporters are allowed to demonstrate
Both Rasmus Paludan and supporters of the Turkish government have been given permission to demonstrate outside the Turkish embassy on Saturday. The risk of clashes is assessed as low, says police spokesperson Ola Österling.
Rasmus Paludan, leader of the far-right Danish party Stram Kurs, has been given permission to demonstrate between 1-3pm on Saturday in Diplomatstaden in Stockholm. In his application, he writes that he wants to protest both against Islam in Sweden and against Turkey's view of Swedish freedom of expression. Paludan to burn the Koran outside the Turkish embassy.
- It is important to show Erdogan that Sweden has freedom of speech. He has to put up with that, says Paludan.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
Turkey has reacted strongly to a doll representing Erdogan being hung by the feet outside Stockholm's city hall last week. The president's spokesperson has demanded that those responsible for the incident be held accountable. The puppet also caused Turkey to postpone the Swedish Speaker Andreas Norlén's visit to the country.
The pro-Turkish organization Union of European Turkish Democrats, UETD, has also applied to demonstrate outside the embassy at the same time - and like Paludan - supporters of the Turkish government have had their demonstration granted.
Since UETD's application for a demonstration permit was submitted to the police first, they have the first move. The police assess that both demonstrations cannot be held in the same place for security reasons. Therefore, Paludan's Koran burning has been placed about 50 meters away, at the intersection at Nobelgatan and Djurgårdsbrunnsvägen.
- We have had to move the Stram Kurs demonstration somewhat and also the other organization. Both groups have been positive about the police's proposal, says Ola Österling at the Stockholm Police.
The UETD, which received permission between 14-16 on Saturday at Dag Hammarskjöld's road, writes in the application that they demonstrate against whoever "steps on the Turkish flag" and to support Turkey and the Turkish president.
Do you see a risk of any clashes?
- We see it as a low risk, we have a very good dialogue with both groups. We are prepared that there will be other people who will protest against these, but you can disrupt demonstrations to a certain extent, says Ola Österling.
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Hanging Erdogan doll in Stockholm upsets Turkey
A doll representing Turkish President Erdogan was hung outside Stockholm City Hall on Thursday. Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) condemns the action.
The incident has provoked strong reactions in Turkey and Sweden's ambassador in Ankara has been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The doll was hung outside Stockholm City Hall on Thursday morning.
"History shows how dictators often end, so for everyone's sake Erdogan: Now take the chance and resign, so you don't end up upside down in Taksim Square!" writes the Rojava Committees on Twitter, along with a video clip of the hanging of the doll, which is dressed to look like President Erdogan. The doll is suspended by the feet.
The Rojava Committees call themselves "a network for solidarity and exchange with the revolutionary movement throughout Kurdistan". Turkish media call them PKK supporters and when the clip was noted in Turkey, the media went into a frenzy.
In Sweden, on the other hand, the puppet hanging went unnoticed - until Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) tweeted on Thursday afternoon.
"The government protects an open debate about the political choices, but strongly distances itself from threats and hatred against political representatives. Portraying a popularly elected president as executed outside City Hall is abhorrent," writes Billström.
- Many Turkish media have contacted us, so we decided to post a comment on Twitter, says press secretary Anna Erhardt.
Sweden's ambassador in Ankara, Staffan Herrström, was called after the incident to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for talks and a meeting on Thursday afternoon, Anna Erhardt tells SVT Nyheter .
What is said to have been said during the meeting is still unclear.
However, the comment does not calm the Turkish anger. One who has shared the comment is Fahrettin Altun, who is commonly referred to as one of Erdogan's closest men and spokesperson. He shares it together with his own text, where he demands that Sweden act.
"This is proof that the Swedish authorities have not taken the necessary steps against terrorism, as they have claimed lately," writes Fahrettin Altun on Twitter.
But Erdogan's closest man is not satisfied.
"Sweden needs to keep its promises, which were made in Madrid, to join NATO," writes Altun in English.
"That PKK terrorists can challenge the Swedish government in the heart of Stockholm is proof that the Swedish authorities have not taken the necessary steps against terrorism, as they have been claiming lately," he continues.
The doll should now be picked up.
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Salimonu Kadiri
Sent: 26 January 2023 18:10
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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Paludan: "Their idea that I should burn the Koran"
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Oluwatoyin Adepoju
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Baba Kadiri,
There's a vast section of the Swedish population that is against Sweden joining NATO and many more who think that a referendum on NATO membership should precede any decision to do so.
Can we therefore not sanely conclude that behind the scenes, the authorities that have been providing police protection for Rasmus Paludan to the tune of 43 million Swedish Kronor of the Swedish taxpayer's money, were and are confident that his setting fire to the Holy Quran outside Turkiye’s Embassy in Stockholm would guarantee that Turkiye would permanently block Sweden’s application to become a member of NATO?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTLQ_6H8y0E
Cornelius Hamelberg
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The expression “All dis wahala about Koran burning looks like too much smoke to me.” is too enigmatic to fully grasp. I’m simultaneously linking, “no smoke without fire” with “ smoke and mirrors” which I think is nearer to the truth of what’s going on behind the scenes. The fire, the burning and the smoke was captured live on video - it was not fake news or a rumour, and the idea of it being a ruse or smokescreen is completely out of the question, for the simple reason that we are to judge an action by its effects - a plane crashes and it’s good to know, who was on board - in this case it’s grossly, a more targeted instance of dastardly Islamophobia of which the effects are clear for all to see in Sweden ( adieu to NATO) in the Islamic World ( boycott of Swedish goods and maybe even sanctions) and in Turkey in particular where strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is currently campaigning to win the next Presidential election /re-election, slated for 14 May 2023. Right now He is centre stage, calling the shots, clearly positioned as the champion of Islam who is standing up to the feckless, insolent kuffar of Holland and Scandinavia who made the fatal mistake of burning a copy of the Holy Quran in front of Turkiye’s Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. Really, a fatal mistake on many levels. When I first heard the news, my second reaction was that for sure, just like Lars Vilks, the perpetrator Rasmus Paludan is just another “dead man walking”. In the meantime, the scumbag is still feeling that the Holy Quran is just like any other book, such as Mein Kampf or Letter To A Christian Nation , so he is probably feeling sufficiently emboldened to try his hand at igniting the Holy Quran outside the Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian Embassies, but I’m sure that he’s too much of a coward to try his luck outside the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran because he fears that a revolutionary guard might fire at him with live ammunition from the rooftop of the Embassy or from behind the curtain, although BTW, I don’t think that Iran would have any spittle to waste on pork chops like him, just as I’m sure that nobody from Sudan wants to make kebabs out of him because everybody’s sure that he’s destined for the fire anyway. But Nigeria would prove to be an end station for him although he doesn’t know that if he put a live flame to the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sokoto, Kano or Zamfara, he would have surely already breathed his last…as the saying goes, fools rush in where angels fear to tread
For you guys who, unlike us, are living far away from the theatre of war in Ukraine, of course, the war is far away and will probably never touch you. For some of us in Sweden, we keep an eye on this site and understand that in a few years from now, The Prophecies of Anton Johansson could be a distinct possibility…